Gary Burtless, an economist with the Brookings Institution says, "If more men tend to be employed in occupations that pay higher wages both to men and women, then men may enjoy an overall earnings advantage even if all women in each occupation receive exactly the same hourly pay as the men who are employed in the occupation."

According to the article linked to above,

Indeed, if you look at men and women working in the same professions, the pay gap is much smaller (though for most professions, it doesn’t disappear entirely).

For computer programmers, for instance, women earn 95 cents for every dollar a man earns. For cashiers it’s 92 cents. For cooks and customer service representatives, it’s 95 cents. Other occupations have more unequal ratios. Women who are personal financial advisers, for instance, earn just 58 cents of what men in that job earn.

In an article written in April 2006, David Boaz called Seeger "Stalin's Songbird". Seeger may have finally apologized "for not seeing that Stalin was a supremely cruel misleader" but in the end, he was still a communist.

Mourn Pete Seeger's death, if that's your style, but I say the world is better off without him.

Friday, January 10, 2014

According to religionnews.com, the New York-based Satanic Temple unveiled its proposal for a monument it intends to erect next to another religious statue: a depiction of the Ten Commandments on the Oklahoma State Capitol.

"The group wants to erect the monument next to a depiction of the Ten Commandments that has been on the state grounds since 2012. Legislators opened the door to such displays when they pushed through a bill in 2009 giving permission for the Ten Commandments monument, which was paid for with private funds.
The plans show a 7-foot tall-statue of a seated Satan flanked by two children. The design includes two important Satanist symbols: the pentacle, located above Satan’s head, and the baphomet."

When or if the Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission will approve the Satanists' application is anybody's guess. The panel imposed a moratorium on new displays after receiving a Hindu group’s application for a monument to the Hindu god Hanuman.

By allowing a display of the Ten Commandments, the Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission has opened the flood gates for other religious groups to file similar applications. Someone should have seen this coming.

Unfortunately, there appears to be only two options available; either allow any and all religious groups to erect monuments or remove the Ten Commandments and allow none. Personally, I'd prefer the second option.

Friday, January 3, 2014

It would appear that I've broken from tradition this Holiday season. Normally on News Years Eve and New Years Day, I'd post something about the books I've read during the past year and some thoughts on books that I might have a go at in the upcoming year. Sadly there was no final blog post of 2013 or first blog post of 2014 this time around.

I wish I could write that I had a good reasons for this break from tradition, but unfortunately, I can only put it down to laziness. I just couldn't motivate myself to make the December 31 slash January 1st deadline.

But now, it's 12:47 AM, I've awoken and can't get back to sleep.I may as well post that piece now and get it out of the way.

Some of the books that I began reading but couldn't bring myself to finish include :

The Bomber Liza Marklund The Comedienne Władysław Stanisław Reymont Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian Society John HorvatEn Route J.K. Huysmans

I hesitate to add The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie to either list as I'm currently reading it. Starting on it late, I couldn't finish reading it before the December 31 deadline,although I intend on finishing it.

I know. This isn't much in the way of "The Year in Review", but it's the best I can do just after midnight.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Included in the list, "selfie," "twerking" and "hashtag." Good riddance, I say.

The list of words banished also includes the ever popular nickname for the Affordable Care Act, "Obamacare". I'm sure that millions of people wish that Obamacare itself, and not just the word, could be banished completely.